Athletics Blog

Numerous sports loving parents has now turned into genetics in the hopes of determining if their child would be a sports hero. Athletes are born, not made. This saying can be valid once the claims have been tested. A company in Melbourne called Genetic Technologies has produced the genetic testing kit which is the only one in the world. This kit determines if a person has a R577X gene variant in the fast twitching muscle gene ACTN3. If you got two of this variant you tend to be endurance focused but to those without it are the sprint types and usually explosive-power based.

A lot of basketball coaches in schools and universities are surprised with the physical conditions of their players. Most of them lack what we call physical strength. To be able to achieve performance level consistently, the players need to condition their mind and body. It is the reason why fitness programs are ongoing.

It is important for a basketball player to be in good condition. It will be much easier for them to perform and acquire the fundamental skills that can make them a real hard court superstar.

Do you know that the lack of conditioning contributes a lot to a basketball player’s failure?

Basketball is a game that is full of fun and excitement. There is always a room for improvement regardless of what level you are in. You can be the best player as long as you take this craft seriously. You can acquire new techniques as long as you observe other players.

The more that you learn about basketball, the better you will become in the future. The legendary icons in basketball or in any other fields in sports are always eager to learn. Listen to your coach as he guides you in this field. You have to pay attention and make sure to do what you are supposed to do.

This entry is a continuation of the previous entry which deals with an enlarge heart muscle that caused difficulty for blood to be pumped out of the heart. Another cause, according to Dr. Donahue, is that there are unrecognized heart valve disease is another cause of sudden deaths in athletes. The inherited condition, which is the Mafran syndrome, is also included in the list of causes for the unexpected deaths of healthy athletes. Usually patients with Mafran syndrome have long legs and arms, have eye problems and have bulging and weak aortas. It points to the need of CPR trained personnel and the presence of defibrillators in athletic venues.

In STLtoday.com, columnist Dr. Paul Donahue says that abnormal heartbeats are often the cause of death in young athletes. The previous blog speaks about a 23-year-old athlete who died of unknown causes, and here Dr. Donahue answers. He said that these sudden deaths of young athletes during exercise can be pointed to many reasons. The primary one is the enlargement of the heart muscle called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and is often with a genetic basis. It is difficult to pump out blood from the heart with an enlarged heart. In addition, muscle fibers haphazardly arranged leads to development of serious and fatal heart rhythms.

There is a popular saying that “Practice Makes Perfect”. This is a true statement, but if you practice in big hours without resting, you will end up stressed and tired.

I noticed that a big misconception is being planted in the brains of our basketball newbies. They tend to practice and train more than 10 hours a day, which is very unhealthy. Most of them end up not meeting their goals at all.

Practice is the key for success, but overdoing it can cause failure. You will achieve your goals if you know how to handle your time. You must have a definite schedule for practice and for other important things. You have to be consistent with everything you do.

Have you ever experienced or know of someone who was unlikely to die and yet he died. I am not speaking about an accident here but perhaps a disease. One could be very healthy and yet suddenly die. A healthy normal athletic person dies and autopsy reports cannot find the source of death. I read in an internet article about a 23-year-old male athlete who suddenly fell off the treadmill and instantly died. He wasn’t smoking, drinking or did drugs, and he was health conscious, but how did this happen. What could be the probable cause of the athlete’s death?

What do Micheal Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Larry Bird, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Carmello Anthony and Reggie Miller have in common aside from being basketball legends?

All of them are exceptionally good shooters.

We have a lot of good basketball athletes in the world and you can find them almost everywhere, but what separates you from the rest is your ability to shoot for the win!

If you are really serious in becoming a good basketball player, you better work on your shooting skills. Know the techniques on how to shoot the ball for big points. Also take not on the right way of catching and releasing the ball with its proper motion.

April 30-May 4 marks the African Athletics Championship at Addis Ababa and it also marks a harvest for Ethiopia. This country have predicted a medal sweep for their distance runners in this event which is held every two years. According to Ethiopia’s top athletic official, Dube Jillo that all their internationally tested athletes are expected to win gold medals in their respective fields. He also said that this years championship would serve as an endurance test for their athletes to be selected to compete at the Beijing Olympics in August. Dube is a technical director of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation.

A world leader when it comes to the Olympics might not even compete in the Beijing Olympics of 2008. That world leader is the USA. This country is known for harvesting medals every Olympics and it is unlikely for them not to compete this time. It was said that in the Olympics, it was the world against USA. It was reported that the United States would consider to boycott the Beijing Olympics if China would not be able to guarantee the safety of the athletes. This statement was made by the United States Olympic Committee chief Jim Scher on Tuesday.